Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev recently commented on Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut's 21st MVP award at IEM Katowice 2025, raising concerns about the disparity in award distribution.
s1mple pointed out that ZywOo's MVP accolades included medals from European online RMR events that were not acknowledged by HLTV. Specifically, s1mple referred to the DreamHack Open Fall 2020 and cs_summit 6 tournaments, which took place online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While these events were part of the official RMR cycle, s1mple highlighted that the competition level in other regions differed significantly. As a result, HLTV did not categorize them as equal-tier events, leading to discrepancies in MVP award allocations.
Notably, s1mple mentioned the absence of MVP medals for Eastern European events, citing the WePlay! Clutch Island tournament. Despite potentially earning an extra accolade if MVP awards were included, s1mple's performance at the subsequent event where NAVI secured a 4th place finish did not position him favorably.
Although s1mple would have maintained his lead in MVP titles, the gap between him and ZywOo would likely have been reduced to just one award, underlining the nuances of MVP recognition in eSports.
